I think its a great Idea. I think the one Mike Murphy came works a bit cooler check it out for yourself
Power Tower http://www.mikemurphyentinc.com/powertower.html
I do realize not all towers can fold this way. Some have to fold into the boat ect. I do think the folding power tower is a great option, IMO it's somthing we should have had a few years ago instead of touch screen BS and Navagation. But to each his own some people might NEVER fold there tower and use the Hell out of the Nav ect. It would be cool if the could make the towers have the power folding option WITH OUT the ulgy motor on the arm. I do think they are moving in the right direction so hats off to MC nice job. I bet in 3 or 4 years they will have it dialed in

I agree with "G" that's it's a good idea. I have to take my tower down everytime I back my boat in to my car port and I have the old style were it folds forward. It's heavy and extra step everytime we pull it out or put it back. I'm sure the idea will get refined too look better and work better but I do agree the tower design itself isn't the most pleasing looking. You have a very low sleak looking boat with a over mechanical looking tower. The tower style needs to match the boat and currently I don't think it does. I know some don't like them but I think the new Nautique or Tige tower would look awesome on a pickle forked Mastercraft. I guess it's also about being different and progression/evolution.

WOW, I’m new to this forum and I’ve never been on a boating forum before, and I’m blown away by the comments regarding this tower. I knew brand loyalty among boaters was strong but most of these comments sound like hate mail rather than honest criticism.

As for the tower, I think it’s the first tower I’ve ever seen that was engineered without compromise. If it is as rigid as it looks, someone has finally addressed most of the issues we all complain about. Too tall to load boards on top, too low to walk under, dry storage height issues, towing with the sails up, add a bimini top to it and you can lower it for better shade or rain coverage, low bridge clearance (I know two places on my lake that I could access for flat water), …. And it can do all of this without having to step over your guests to remove bolts and unsnap tops to make it happen, or God for bid you drop the tower on someone!

As for the looks, I’m an engineer and I like its purposeful design. That sound from the tower is certainly from from a screw drive - very strong and very safe - will not collapse if power is lost or from hydraulic failure.

I’ll have one next spring. Tige, MB, Nautique, etc will have one spring 2015.

WOW, Iím new to this forum and Iíve never been on a boating forum before, and Iím blown away by the comments regarding this tower. I knew brand loyalty among boaters was strong but most of these comments sound like hate mail rather than honest criticism.

As for the tower, I think itís the first tower Iíve ever seen that was engineered without compromise. If it is as rigid as it looks, someone has finally addressed most of the issues we all complain about. Too tall to load boards on top, too low to walk under, dry storage height issues, towing with the sails up, add a bimini top to it and you can lower it for better shade or rain coverage, low bridge clearance (I know two places on my lake that I could access for flat water), Ö. And it can do all of this without having to step over your guests to remove bolts and unsnap tops to make it happen, or God for bid you drop the tower on someone!

As for the looks, Iím an engineer and I like its purposeful design. That sound from the tower is certainly from from a screw drive - very strong and very safe - will not collapse if power is lost or from hydraulic failure.

Iíll have one next spring. Tige, MB, Nautique, etc will have one spring 2015.

I can see a form of it catching on, but not the way they have it set up. Dont get me wrong, it is a pretty cool idea, and for some it may help out a ton.
In my opinion Its not sleek enough to appeal to the market right now, look at the other manufacturers, they are going for the simplistic, almost underplayed looking tower and I REALLY like the way they look. Some more than others, but over all I dig them. Tiges Alpha Z tower looks killer, Moomba now has the illusion x that the Bu's used to have, and supra has that new sick on, its tubing but only partially.

I can understand them trying to pave their own way and now be the followers, but I think they could have come up with something alittle better and even more functional. The vid thats on facebook shows how the cushions can still open when the towers down, board racks can still rotate...put tower speakers and boards on and that no longer will work. It is cool that the racks stay oriented correctly when the tower goes down, but i still would expect a little better.

Maybe in person they look killer and will blow my mind, but the pictures just arent doing it for me. Looks of a boat is a big deal to me, not saying I would trade funtion for fashion, but I like when function and fashion can coexist

WOW, Iím new to this forum and Iíve never been on a boating forum before, and Iím blown away by the comments regarding this tower. I knew brand loyalty among boaters was strong but most of these comments sound like hate mail rather than honest criticism.

As for the tower, I think itís the first tower Iíve ever seen that was engineered without compromise. If it is as rigid as it looks, someone has finally addressed most of the issues we all complain about. Too tall to load boards on top, too low to walk under, dry storage height issues, towing with the sails up, add a bimini top to it and you can lower it for better shade or rain coverage, low bridge clearance (I know two places on my lake that I could access for flat water), Ö. And it can do all of this without having to step over your guests to remove bolts and unsnap tops to make it happen, or God for bid you drop the tower on someone!

As for the looks, Iím an engineer and I like its purposeful design. That sound from the tower is certainly from from a screw drive - very strong and very safe - will not collapse if power is lost or from hydraulic failure.

Iíll have one next spring. Tige, MB, Nautique, etc will have one spring 2015.

You sound like an engineer who worked on the tower project defending your design, especially with that last comment. It's a unique design that addresses some realistic issues, but in this engineers opinion it's design excess and nothing more, making overpriced boats even more unobtainable for average boaters.

I'm not a huge fan of it. The tower reminds me of my knee brace. What they should have done is to make the top of the tower two pieces so that when you push a button they seperate and roll out an automatic bimini. Kinda like the ones on an RV, or the sunshades you roll out over your patio. A push button bimini would be a much better selling point IMO

Iím not in the boat business and never have been, but I do live in Knoxville, TN and I know several people in the boat business of different brands. I own a MasterCraft Xstar, and have really enjoyed it. I rode behind an MB before that, and have friends with Supra and Nautique.

Whatís interesting is when you speak to folks in the business they are not nearly as critical of each other as you would think. They are very competitive but never nasty. I guess thatís why I was put off by some of the comments.

My last comment was simply a statement of what Iíve observed in boating for the past few years (since I retired and started making a hobby out of looking for new business opportunities, including buying ...a boat company). MC seems to try to innovate and the others either sit still or they follow as fast as they can. Innovators always get stones thrown at them until they convert the fast followers. Itís a common phenomenon in all industries, even industries that do not serve a general consumer market.

I still like the tower.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattieK27

You sound like an engineer who worked on the tower project defending your design, especially with that last comment. It's a unique design that addresses some realistic issues, but in this engineers opinion it's design excess and nothing more, making overpriced boats even more unobtainable for average boaters.

i guess we should thank the folks over at correct craft for making the first production tower that eventually led to the t-1000 tower. it honestly looks like they watched every episode of bay watch and modeled the tower off the scarabs they used. innovation is good, but it does not have to be implemented until it is refined. i come from a different school though because in 10 years on boats with towers i've only folded one down once.

The thing I have noticed on here, is there are some die-hard brand loyalists on here. Some are going to hate MC no matter what the tower, graphics, ballast, stereo, etc. looks or performs. (I know it applies to other boats, but MC seems to have the largest group of bashers on this board). Many people on here bash the wake, but look at the list of tricks behind an X-Star: Harf's first 1080, Malinoski and Steel's W2W 1080's, Wing's 900, Clifford's W2W BS 900, pretty much all of the hammers that Rathy landed last year, and the list goes on and on, pretty good for a crappy wake.

I am not the biggest fan of the tower, but it may grow on me. I remember the first comments about the Axis, bashing left and right, and now it is growing on people.

i am a brand loyalist when they earn it whether it's a boat, vehicle, shoe, or frozen dinner. for myself and two others they earned nothing but a huge profit for the dealers fixing them. that said, i'll ride behind someone else's all day long. they make some great wakes, have great board racks, etc. will i ever own one again? no. i wouldn't even accept one for free if i had to keep it. but i'll compliment their efforts when they make the right moves. i do love the smaller csx and it's definitely only something mc is offering even though correct craft did it a WHILE ago.

Gerbil, HA HA! I've been looking at that tower for 10 minutes now and can't make up my mind. I'm leaning towards liking it as long as MC will stay with it. Not like how Malibu went had the batwing tower for a year or two and now it looks wierd and out of place when ever you see it on the water.

i try to be objective[sometimes i haven't been].that being said remember no one knows you they just read your comments and twist or read them as they please.i will say this mastercraft loyalists[not mastercraft owners] remind me of harley davidson loyalists[not owners].they [the loyalists] think they own the best bar none and don't you forget it. oh you own something else well it's no good and neither are you for owning it.mastercraft makes a excellent product.their boat wakes are prefered by most but not all riders. i agree with jeremy alot of top notch tricks have been done behind a mastercraft .but everyone doesn't like the same things or want the same things. thats why other boat companys exist.i don't think it's a fair statement to say they are THE innovators of everything and everyone else copies them .they have come up with alot of firsts but so have other companies.what i dislike about mastercraft has nothing to do with the company the boats or the wakes.it has everything to do with the ATTITUDES of the above mentioned LOYALISTS.LIKE I SAID GREAT BOATS ,GEAT WAKES, GOOD INNOVATORS.JUST SOME LOYALISTS.

Iím not in the boat business and never have been, but I do live in Knoxville, TN and I know several people in the boat business of different brands. I own a MasterCraft Xstar, and have really enjoyed it. I rode behind an MB before that, and have friends with Supra and Nautique.

Whatís interesting is when you speak to folks in the business they are not nearly as critical of each other as you would think. They are very competitive but never nasty. I guess thatís why I was put off by some of the comments.

My last comment was simply a statement of what Iíve observed in boating for the past few years (since I retired and started making a hobby out of looking for new business opportunities, including buying ...a boat company). MC seems to try to innovate and the others either sit still or they follow as fast as they can. Innovators always get stones thrown at them until they convert the fast followers. Itís a common phenomenon in all industries, even industries that do not serve a general consumer market.

I still like the tower.

Oh come on, bias much? Mastercraft is the only company showing innovation, and all the others follow suit? That comment alone shows me you are not looking at the market objectively, nevermind the fact your a Mastercraft owner.

They all copy off one another. The wakeboarding market has become a game of glitz and glamour, with very little substance making a performance difference year to year. I am sorry, but a tower that takes 30 seconds to lower on a noisy screw drive and still creates an obstacle to climb over is hardly an innovation.

matt you bruised his ego . he was thinking of buying a boat business. i guess he didn't hear someone else already bailed out mastercraft about 1 year ago.they are using someone elses money to innovate now.all the other subpar companies are using their own money they got by taking increased marketshare from somewhere. guess where?

CTS-V engine seems like a cool option. Do you think it will pop out of the water a lot faster???
It seems as if a whole generation of people (young kid's) who have never driven a older direct drive have no Idea what its like to drive inboard that gets out of its own way. Its like all boats these days are IMO big old TUNA boat's and take for ever to get going. Just wondering if the CTS V will or does address this. Has anyone said what the power tower option cost's??? My guess is 5k extra.
And how much is the CTS V motor option ??? 10 or 15k upgrade?

That's somthing that I have never seen in a boat test. Seconds to plane. It would be cool if they could some how come up with the amount of gas or energy it took to get a fully factory weighted boat on plane and up to speed. I have been is some boats that take 1/4 mile to get up and going and the wake cleaned up. That would be a great selling point a boat that is designed to get up and going faster than brand X

IMO a automatic tower is a Option we haven't seen, My bet is you will see more boats with it in the future. Or at least as a option. Some people would give their right arm for it and other's like the guy above who said in 15 years of boating he has never folded a tower. Boat real boaters with very diffrent ways they use a boat. It just go's to show you how hard it is to make everyone happy.

I still think Epic's E23 Hybrid boat is the coolest thing that I have seen in a while.

I somtimes wish I could design my own boat or work for a company designing boats. I have some Ideas that I think would be pretty cool

wakeboarding magazine has time to 30 mph or something like that in their test .it would give you a rough comparison.i'm not sure of the mph but they test all the boats the same.are you wanting that information on a ballast full boat?thats where most boats struggle. i think that would be good information. when i bought my boat i compared the 0 to 30 mph times and top speed of the engine i got to the bigger one. .02 seconds to 30 mph and 2 mph difference top speed vs. 6000.00 more cash . i went with the smaller engine and have loaded boat with 2000 lbs of ballast. it's slower but not bad.

Another Diesel fan here. I will never understand what the hold up is on this for towboats.....

I would agree. I think MC offered a small diesel at one point, l think it was a VW engine but im not entirely sure, might have just been an engine swap that the owner did. Saw it along time ago on a black/Navy Xstar.

Only real argument I've ever heard against them in towboats was the availability of diesel fuel at most lakes......but I know most everyone avoids gassing up at the marinas especially since its way expensive and the fuel is typically pretty bad quality. I know iv only done it like once/twice in the past 6 years and wasnt happy about it.

just think how BIG of a prop you could have with a diesel. put a air pump on it and you could blow up tubes and have a air horn like a tugboat. that would wake up the jetskis. okay thats enough i was just dreaming.LOL

There's probably an emissions issue as well. Could you imagine a huge plume of black smoke every time you floored a slammed boat to get it out of the hole and on plane? I know when I floor my dodge 2500 to merge on the interstate while pulling my 230, I basically put out a smoke screen for the drivers behind me.

There's probably an emissions issue as well. Could you imagine a huge plume of black smoke every time you floored a slammed boat to get it out of the hole and on plane? I know when I floor my dodge 2500 to merge on the interstate while pulling my 230, I basically put out a smoke screen for the drivers behind me.